Motions and Emotions

Twenty-four hours from now we will be boarding a plane heading south to Costa Rica. I am starting to go through the motions of packing: bringing up the suitcases from the garage, creating a pile of T-shirts, tickets, reading materials, sudoku, journal, camera, clothes, meds, and more. I need to match number of days to number of underwear, or will I be wearing a bathing suit most of the time?? By the way, the bathing suit I ordered was back-ordered, then canceled. Today I had the un-fun chore of finding a bathing suit in stores that are brimming with winter coats and sweaters.

I am also going through the emotions of leaving on a big trip. I always get jet-fear before I fly. My mind morbidly plays out disaster fantasies that are too vivid to write down. I worry that if something happened to us, Ben would be left alone since he is not with us. But this could happen when we are all in the car together without him. When I actually board a plane, I don't have any fear of flying. It is just the week before a trip that I am apprehensive. And this fear dampens my excitement. I have been planning this trip for two years so it is hard to believe that we are actually going tomorrow.

This week (month?) has been so busy with buying and shipping presents, squeezing in holiday events, lighting the Hanukkah candles every night, while maintaining a hectic work schedule. Here are some of the highlights of this month:


The OB Holiday Parade
This annual parade is always held at night. Regular features are the Geriatric Surf Club that follows a truck blaring a Beach Boys tune while these old guys and gals (they must be 50 at least!!) dancing with surfboards down the street. Bikers for Jesus--they look like Hells Angels but they are singing Christmas songs and praising the lord and throwing candy canes to the kids. I guess they are reformed Hells Angels, so now they are just Angels dressed in black leather, riding Harleys. Old woodies, and other unusual cars each try to outdo the next with their gobs of Christmas lights. This year a couple of flatbeds and other semi trucks made their way down Newport Avenue. I am not sure why they were there. They weren't even decorated. The flatbed had what looked like a family of derelicts sitting in the back, hesitantly waving to the crowds while drinking something from brown paper bags. Of course there were the usual brownie troops, people with pets, and a few political groups tramping down the road. There was the group that was against the proposed law of no smoking on beaches, and the group that was for the law of no smoking on beaches. There was the Green party and the Animal Clinic with their unusual dogs. There never are marching bands.

Parade of Lights
Every year we go to the pier on Coronado Island to watch the Parade of Lights. Boats get decked out in Christmas lights and parade around the harbor. It is a beautiful spectacle, with the skyline of San Diego in the background. Each yacht or sailboat is decorated uniquely.

Hanukkah
Tonight is the seventh night. We had Hanukkah parties with family and friends. Scott and I made all the latkes the weekend before, so we wouldn't be stuck in the kitchen cooking all evening when guests were over. We had matzo ball soup, borsht, latkes and salad. All my non-Jewish friends who come over every year for Hanukkah think that borsht and matzo ball soup are traditional Hanukkah foods because I serve it every year.

This is the first Hanukkah that we have not celebrated with Ben. It seemed somewhat empty to not have him lighting a menorah with us. Mikayla missed him. She said she does not like being an only child.

Wedding
We drove up to Pepperdine University in Malibu for a wedding of a cousin's daughter. Pepperdine is on a hill overlooking the ocean. It is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. We were in the middle of the Los Angeles metropolis and there was a deer on the lawn of the campus!

The bride was beautiful, the mother of the bride was glowing, the guests all had a great time. I loved the way the couple wove tradition and non-tradition into the ceremony to make it uniquely their own.

On the way up, I took work with me and did it in the back seat. I’m editing a book that our company is publishing in the spring. It is part of a set of curriculum. This one is on writing in Middle School.

Time to go to sleep so that I can wake up and try to cram everything in my suitcase. Happy New Year to whoever is reading this. May this coming year bring more peace to our world.